At the end of these words, the entire room was shocked. Duan Lan’s face turned pale in an instant, Princess Chaoyang Chen Yining was even more furious. She originally planned to use this matter to humiliate Xin He, but she didn’t expect that she would ultimately be the one providing her with a wedding dress!
The Emperor showed a slight hesitation, and after a moment of doubt, he said, "The imperial edict of my granting marriage has already been issued, how can I retract it easily?"
Xin He said, "But your Majesty has also just recently promised me. You said you would fulfill my request. You shouldn’t go back on your word."
The Emperor was taken aback, he hadn’t expected to have fallen into a trap:" I see you and the young master of the Duan Family as a suitable match, why are you unwilling?"
Xin He followed up with a somewhat angry tone: "Naturally, I am unwilling. Whenever I think about how this marriage was originally the one that belonged to the fake Li Junyao who took advantage of others, I feel sick inside. I am the rightful eldest daughter of the Marquis’s family, she’s an imposter, and I am to pick up her leftover marriage contract? Isn’t this a disgrace to me?"
The royal family listened to her words and found it quite reasonable. If the situation were put onto Princess Chaoyang, given her temperament, she probably wouldn’t be able to tolerate it either.
Xin He knelt on the ground, proclaiming in a fit of pique: "Even if this young master of the Duan Family is perfect in every way, I still don’t want this marriage. Not for anything else, but to show my dissatisfaction! If your Majesty indeed wants to reward me, please grant my request. After all, I was not the one named in the original imperial marriage edict."
Lady Sun rushed forward: "The girl is rash, please forgive her, Your Majesty."
The Emperor, however, laughed: "Children sometimes act irrationally, she’s allowed to be somewhat temperamental. Seeing as she is so insistent, it would be unfair not to agree, especially considering her impressive dance performance. Not only that, but ultimately, the marriage contract is indeed between Duan Lan and Li Junyao. Now that Li Junyao turns out to be a fraud, the contract naturally cannot be left to make Xin He feel wronged."
Xin He once again thanked the Emperor for his grace: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great kindness."
The corner of Mu Houchu’s lips curled up, his heart leaping with joy all of a sudden.
The commotion subsided and the banquet could finally proceed in peace.
Princess Chaoyang walked up to Xin He, almost gritting her teeth, and said, "Just you wait!"
Xin He gave a light chuckle: "What does the princess mean by this? I haven’t even had the opportunity to thank you for allowing me to showcase my talents yet. The princess is really honoring me."
There was a hard look in Princess Chaoyang’s eyes as she turned around in anger and stalked off.
The banquet continued, but the atmosphere was noticeably stiffened considerably.
When the banquet ended, a little eunuch came forward and said courteously: "The foreign prince has specially sent a black bear to wish the Imperial Concubine a happy birthday. Is the Imperial Concubine planning to watch it?"
The Emperor laughed and said, "Good! There are so many good shows today, and of course we have to go see it."
Then he turned his head to Concubine Ning and said, "My love, weren’t you always wanting to see such a colossal beast? Today is just the opportunity."
Concubine Ning was clearly eager: "The Emperor really understands me."
"Well, since we have all finished dining, let’s all go and see the fun. I’ve heard that black bears from foreign territories are particularly aggressive. I want to see how fierce they can be."
With a wave of the Emperor’s hand, everyone naturally followed.
Having dodged the marriage contract, Xin He felt very relaxed, and immediately followed everyone.
Mu Houchu found it very boring. He found these kinds of banquets most tiring, and if it hadn’t been for Xin He coming today, he wouldn’t have bothered to show up.
Because Lady Sun was speaking with Xin He, she was walking slower. "You were too reckless today. What if the Emperor punishes you for this? The entire Le Yuanhou mansion will be implicated. Your father had been eagerly expecting your return. If anything happens to you now, what should he do?"
Xin He obediently nodded: "I know I was wrong."
Lady Sun said, "Nothing in this palace is simple, you have to be careful."
As they were talking, a palace maid ran around the corner and almost bumped into Xin He. Xin He quickly dodged, and the little palace maid stumbled past her, luckily not falling over.
The little palace maid turned pale, not sure if it was from fear or something else: "This slave deserves to die, this slave was reckless, almost colliding with a noble person."
Xin He’s brows furrowed, how could the palace maids in this palace be so reckless?
"Get up." Xin He stepped past her and was about to leave.
But the little palace maid grabbed her skirt urgently, and said anxiously, "Lady Li, please don’t blame this slave, this slave was just momentarily careless. This slave won’t dare to do it again. Lady Li, please spare this lowly slave!"
Xin He’s brows furrowed deeper: "When did I say I would make things difficult for you?"
The little palace maid embarrassingly said: "This slave was afraid that Lady Li... This slave knows its sin."
Doubt flickered in Xin He’s eyes, she felt there was something strange about this, so she didn’t ask any more and simply left.
The little palace maid watched as Xin He calmly walked away, and only then did she feel like she could breathe again and collapsed on the ground.
Xin He had only walked a few steps when she felt something was wrong. After some consideration, she stopped.
Lady Sun said, "What is it?"
"I feel like I left something over there, so I’ll go get it first, then go find mother." Xin He said.
Lady Sun was a little uneasy, but she agreed: "Alright, then you hurry back."
She also said to Shulan: "Follow your lady closely."
"Yes."
After Lady Sun left, Xin He went in a different direction. Shulan, puzzled, said, "Didn’t miss say she left something over there? Did we take the wrong path?"
Xin He didn’t stop, she said softly: "You go and do something for me first."
----
The black bear was kept in another open area within Jinghe Palace. Its cage was so large it couldn’t be accommodated elsewhere.
The black bear was tall and strong, one roar could turn the ladies pale with fear. Strangely enough, Imperial Concubine Ning loved watching this and was extremely excited.
A little eunuch on the side beckoned to someone. The beast tamer responsible for taming the bear slightly opened the cage and let in a wolf dog.
The black bear pounced on it immediately, giving it half a swipe which almost killed the wolf dog. It then opened its big mouth and began to growl at it.
The little eunuch immediately tried to please Imperial Concubine Ning by saying, "Imperial Concubine Ning may not know this, but this black bear is extremely ferocious. We had a hard time capturing it alive. Not to mention putting a wolf dog in this cage, even ten wolves would be easily killed by it!"
Imperial Concubine Ning joyfully said, "So fierce? Show me."
"Imperial Concubine, please be patient, this black bear is not only fierce, but it is exceptionally well-behaved when tamed. As long as this beast tamer raises his hand slightly, it can obediently sit there like a dog."
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